Can a Certain Sound Frequency or “Hz” Video Cure Tinnitus?

The claim

“A specific frequency, such as 432 Hz, 528 Hz or a binaural-beat track, can retrain your brain and cure your tinnitus, and a free video can do it.”

The short answer

Sound can change how tinnitus feels while you listen. That part is real, and it is why sound is used in tinnitus clinics. What is not supported is the idea that one “healing” frequency, or a video, removes tinnitus for good.

• 432 Hz and 528 Hz: we found no published human tinnitus-treatment trials specifically evaluating these frequencies (PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov searches, 15 October 2026).
• Binaural beats: small studies disagree. Two found no clear advantage over the same sound without the beats.^{[1, 2]} Three small studies from one research group reported larger improvements than a white-noise masker, which cannot show that the beats themselves matter.^{[3, 4, 5]}
• Notched (“gap”) music: an early small study was positive, but larger controlled trials mostly did not find it better than ordinary music.^{[6, 7, 8, 9]}
• Masking and sound enrichment: regulators accept sound devices for temporary relief, and guidelines disagree about longer-term value.^{[10, 11, 12, 13, 14]}

“Unsupported” here does not mean every sound has been shown not to work. For 432 Hz and 528 Hz, it means we found no published human trials of them for tinnitus, not that they have been shown not to work.

Claim by claim

Where this claim circulates

We searched YouTube for tinnitus “frequency”, “Hz”, “sound fix” and “cure” phrases on 15 October 2026. Titles below are quoted briefly; view counts and upload ages are what YouTube displayed that day. We leave out channel names and links on purpose: this is about the claim, not about any one creator’s intent.

• A 30-minute binaural-beats video titled “Tinnitus Cure In 30 Minutes” (about 3.6 million views; uploaded about 7 years earlier)
• A short video titled “528 Hz Healing Frequency” (about 1.9 million views; uploaded about 1 year earlier)
• A masking-sound video whose title promises “Sound Therapy Relief That WORKS” (about 5.6 million views; uploaded about 3 years earlier)
• A one-hour video titled “Most Powerful Tinnitus Sound Therapy” (about 10.6 million views; uploaded about 9 years earlier)

What the research shows

What “Hz” claims are really claiming

Hertz (Hz) is the pitch of a tone. Tinnitus pitch differs from person to person, and we found no research linking a tone chosen for its supposed “healing” properties to a person’s tinnitus. The 432 Hz and 528 Hz claims we found in videos rest on assertion, not on tinnitus research: searches of PubMed and ClinicalTrials.gov on 15 October 2026 for tinnitus with either number found no human tinnitus-treatment trial specifically evaluating either frequency (the few PubMed hits were unrelated papers).

Clinical sound research uses frequencies matched to a person’s own tinnitus or hearing loss, tested against a comparison sound. That is a different thing from a single “universal” frequency.

What sound can do: masking and temporary relief

A tinnitus masker is a regulated medical device. U.S. regulations describe it as a device “intended to generate noise of sufficient intensity and bandwidth to mask ringing in the ears”, in Class II.^[10] Cleared sound devices are indicated for the temporary relief of tinnitus symptoms, for use as part of a management programme with a hearing professional.^{[11, 15]}

Some people also get a short-lived drop in tinnitus loudness after certain sounds. In one laboratory study of 20 people with chronic tinnitus, at least one of 17 sounds reduced loudness in 90% of them, most often amplitude-modulated tones near the tinnitus pitch. The authors described this as temporary and said the long-term effects remained to be investigated.^[16]

Does long-term listening help? Reviews and guidelines disagree

Cochrane reviewers looked for controlled trials of sound devices. In 2012 they found six trials (553 people) and no significant change in tinnitus loudness or overall severity compared with other approaches, adding that the absence of conclusive evidence “should not be interpreted as evidence of lack of effectiveness”.^[17] A 2018 Cochrane review of hearing aids and sound generators found eight studies (590 people) and no data on the main comparisons against waiting list, placebo or information only.^[18]

Guidelines read the same gap differently:

• The 2026 U.S. guideline says clinicians may recommend sound enrichment to people with persistent, bothersome tinnitus (an option, not a firm recommendation).^[12]
• The 2019 European guideline says sound therapy “may be useful for acute relief purposes but is not considered an effective intervention with long-term results”.^[19]
• The German guideline says sound therapy “should not be practiced”, noting that comparison conditions are often missing and changes may reflect normal habituation.^[13]
• The UK’s NICE guideline made no recommendation on sound therapy and called for research.^[14]

Taken together: sound is a reasonable comfort tool for many people, and we found no study showing that it is a cure.

Binaural beats

A binaural beat is an illusion: two slightly different tones, one in each ear, make you hear a pulsing third tone. Small studies have tested it. Two compared beats with the same sound without them. In 20 adults, an 8 Hz binaural beat added to ocean sound showed no significant group benefit beyond the ocean sound alone.^[1] In a trial of 30 men, listening for 15 minutes twice a day for four weeks, both the music-only group and the music-plus-beats group improved on tinnitus questionnaires, and the groups did not differ on nearly every measure; the authors wrote that the study “failed to demonstrate the superiority” of adding beats.^[2]

That both groups improved is the point: relaxing sound, time and expectation can all lower how much tinnitus bothers a person, which is why a comparison group is essential.

Three further small studies from one research group (24, 60 and 63 adults with tinnitus and normal hearing, published 2024 to 2025) compared binaural-beat sound with a white-noise masker for one to three months. All groups improved, and the beat groups improved more.^{[3, 4, 5]} The next section explains why that does not show a benefit from the beats themselves.

Why the newer binaural-beat studies do not show that the beats help

These three studies are worth reporting, and their authors describe the results as promising. What they can show is limited, for five reasons.

• They compared two different sounds. Beat tracks were compared with white noise, not with the same sound without the beats. That comparison cannot separate the beats from everything else that differs: the sound itself, how pleasant it is, and what people expect from a “brainwave” treatment. The two studies that did use the same sound without beats found no advantage.^{[1, 2]}
• The outcomes are self-reported and people could tell what they were hearing. Scores for tinnitus handicap, distress, mood and quality of life are easily shaped by expectation. The abstracts do not describe blinding or random assignment, and the authors of the 60-person study themselves call for further research on a randomised sample.^[4]
• The studies are small, short and from one group. They followed 24, 60 and 63 people for one to three months, were run by the same investigators in people with normal hearing, and have not been repeated by an independent team.^{[3, 4, 5]}
• Three beat frequencies gave similar results. Similar improvements across three beat frequencies do not support a clearly frequency-specific effect. The authors also acknowledge that the improvements cannot be definitively attributed to brainwave entrainment and may reflect sound therapy more generally.^[4]
• Everyone improved. Every group, including the groups hearing white noise, improved. That fits what is already known about regular listening to sound, relaxation and the natural ups and downs of tinnitus, and is not evidence of a separate treatment effect.^{[3, 4, 5]}

What can fairly be said is that small studies from one research group found larger questionnaire improvements with beat tracks than with white noise in people with normal hearing. What they do not show is that the beats, or any particular frequency, treat tinnitus. Our verdict on this claim is unchanged.

Notched music and “brain retraining” sounds

Notched music removes a band of frequencies around the tinnitus pitch, on the theory that the brain’s overactive area calms down. The first small controlled study (16 people, 12 months of listening) reported reduced loudness and reduced auditory-cortex activity.^[6] Later trials were less encouraging. In a double-blind trial of 100 people, 3 months of listening did not change the main outcomes.^[7] A trial of 104 people found no significant difference in handicap scores against ordinary music.^[8] A 2024 meta-analysis of three studies (99 notched-music and 109 comparison participants) found no significant difference in distress against listening to music, with the authors calling for more research.^[9] The German guideline recommends against it.^[13]

Newer designs are still being tested. In a 2025 blinded online crossover trial, 130 people started and 77 finished. Each person heard one of three kinds of modulated sound, in an active and a near-identical sham version. The two new “de-correlating” versions (27 and 26 people) behaved alike and were pooled: in these 53 people, tinnitus loudness fell after the active sound (p = 0.012) but not after the sham (p = 0.916), while distress scores fell in both conditions and did not differ between them. The third kind (24 people) showed a loudness reduction after the sham but not the active version.^[20] That is a preliminary finding that requires independent replication. It comes from one study in which 41% of those who started did not finish, and it is not an established treatment.

Why a video can feel like it works

Tinnitus naturally rises and falls. Many people also feel better simply from relaxing, from sleeping better, or from expecting relief. In the binaural-beat trial above and in the 2025 online trial, distress improved in the comparison condition too. A video that makes you feel calmer for an hour has done something real, but it has not shown that it changed the underlying tinnitus.

Loudness, distress, relief or cure: what is being claimed?

Claims often blur these. Here is what the evidence supports for each. Definitions.

Limitations and conflicts of interest

Sound studies are mostly small and short, use different questionnaires and comparison sounds, and are hard to blind (you can tell what you are hearing). Several programmes were designed by the people who tested them or by companies that sell them, so funding and independence matter; each treatment page on this site rates them. Most “Hz” claims have no study behind them at all, so there is nothing to appraise. In the 2025 online trial, 130 people started and 77 finished; its abstract’s figure of 53 refers to the people who completed the two pooled versions of the new sound. Two of its authors are affiliated with tinnitus organisations (Tinnitus Works Ltd; Tinnitus UK) and the authors declare no competing interests. We reviewed only the published abstract of the executive summary of the 2026 American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) tinnitus guideline, which lists its key action statements and scope; we did not review the executive summary’s full text or the full guideline, so statements here about what that guideline says are limited to those key action statements and that scope.

Disclosure. Tinnitus Evidence is independently operated, carries no advertising and no affiliate links, and no company can pay for a rating, a verdict or coverage. Tinnitus Evidence and Find My Quiet Sound, a tinnitus sound app, are operated under the same ownership. The app offers sound masking, which can give some people temporary relief, and an experimental personalized notched-sound tool; we do not present either as a scientifically established tinnitus treatment, and we make no claim that the app has demonstrated clinical efficacy. It is currently free to use, and some features may become part of an optional paid Premium plan. This page covers sound-based approaches, so that is a potential conflict of interest. The app has no influence on any rating or verdict here (on this site sound therapy is rated Tier 4 with limited evidence, and on this page notched music is rated Insufficient Evidence), and we make no claim that any app or recording cures tinnitus.

What you can do

• If tinnitus is new, in one ear, pulsing, or comes with hearing loss or dizziness, have it checked by a clinician first.^[14] A hearing test is the usual starting point.^[12]
• Low-level background sound at bedtime or in quiet rooms is a sensible, low-risk comfort measure for many people. Keep volume comfortable, never loud enough to risk hearing damage, and stop if it makes tinnitus worse.
• If tinnitus bothers you, the best-supported approaches target distress: cognitive behavioural therapy (recommended in both the 2026 U.S. and 2019 European guidelines) and a hearing-aid evaluation for people with hearing difficulties (recommended in the 2026 U.S. guideline).^{[12, 19]}
• Be cautious of any recording promising a cure, a “universal” frequency, or results in minutes, and of anything that asks you to pay for it.

Related pages on this site

• Sound therapy & masking — treatment evidence review
• Notched sound / notched music therapy — treatment evidence review
• Acoustic coordinated reset (Desyncra) — treatment evidence review
• TrueSilence / digital polytherapeutic (Searchfield) — treatment evidence review
• Hearing aids (with hearing loss) — treatment evidence review
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) — treatment evidence review
• Threshold sound conditioning (TSC) — Emerging & Unproven
• Can Tinnitus Treatments Reduce Loudness, Distress, or Both? — guide

These pages are the full evidence reviews. Claim checks do not change any treatment’s evidence score or ranking.

References

1. Munro et al. The short-term effects of recorded ocean sound with and without alpha frequency binaural beats on tinnitus perception. Complement Ther Med. 2019. [study] PubMed 31126569 · DOI
2. Bakhtarikia et al. Investigating the effectiveness of music therapy combined with binaural beats on chronic tinnitus: A randomized controlled trial. Am J Otolaryngol. 2024. [study] PubMed 38723376 · DOI
3. Prakash et al. Outcome measures of brainwave entrainment using delta wave stimulation in individuals with tinnitus having normal hearing sensitivity. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2024. [study] PubMed 38641736 · DOI
4. Prakash et al. Brainwave entrainment using binaural beats stimulation: Exploring the treatment efficacy in individuals with tinnitus having normal hearing sensitivity. Auris Nasus Larynx. 2025. [study] PubMed 39615368 · DOI
5. Prakash et al. Evaluating time-bound efficacy of binaural beats for tinnitus treatment in individuals with normal hearing: A brainwave entrainment study. J Otol. 2025. [study] PubMed 41069836 · DOI
6. Okamoto et al. Listening to tailor-made notched music reduces tinnitus loudness and tinnitus-related auditory cortex activity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010. [study] PubMed 20080545 · DOI
7. Stein et al. Clinical trial on tonal tinnitus with tailor-made notched music training. BMC Neurol. 2016. [study] PubMed 26987755 · DOI
8. Therdphaothai et al. A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Notched Music Therapy for Tinnitus Patients. J Int Adv Otol. 2021. [study] PubMed 34100746 · DOI
9. Alfonso et al. Efficacy of tailor-made notched music training for primary tinnitus: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Am J Otolaryngol. 2024. [systematic review] PubMed 39106683 · DOI
10. U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, section 874.3400 (Tinnitus masker). Class II. [regulator] eCFR
11. FDA 510(k) K140845, LEVO Tinnitus Masking Device (indicated for the temporary relief of tinnitus symptoms). Product code KLW, 21 CFR 874.3400. [regulator] FDA clearance letter
12. Adams ME, Cramer JD, Tunkel DE, et al. Executive Summary of the Clinical Practice Guideline on Tinnitus Update. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2026;175(4):739-756. Only the published abstract of this executive summary (which lists the key action statements) was reviewed for this page; the executive summary’s full text and the full guideline were not reviewed. [guideline] PubMed 42861486 · DOI
13. Mazurek B, Hesse G, Sattel H, et al. S3 Guideline: Chronic Tinnitus (German Society for Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery). HNO. 2022;70(Suppl 1):1-31. English translation in PMC. [guideline] PubMed 36227338 · Full text (PMC)
14. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (UK). Tinnitus: assessment and management (NICE guideline NG155). Published 11 March 2020. Says: refer immediately for suspected stroke or sudden neurological signs; tinnitus with sudden hearing loss (3 days or less, in the past 30 days): be seen within 24 hours; consider referral for persistent pulsatile tinnitus. [guideline] NICE NG155
15. FDA 510(k) K221168, Tinnitogram Signal Generator (sound-generating software 'designed to provide temporary relief for people experiencing tinnitus symptoms'). Product code KLW, 21 CFR 874.3400. [regulator] FDA clearance letter
16. Reavis et al. Temporary suppression of tinnitus by modulated sounds. J Assoc Res Otolaryngol. 2012. [study] PubMed 22526737 · DOI
17. Hobson et al. Sound therapy (masking) in the management of tinnitus in adults. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012. [systematic review] PubMed 23152235 · DOI
18. Sereda et al. Sound therapy (using amplification devices and/or sound generators) for tinnitus. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018. [systematic review] PubMed 30589445 · DOI
19. Cima RFF, Mazurek B, Haider H, et al. A multidisciplinary European guideline for tinnitus: diagnostics, assessment, and treatment. HNO. 2019;67(Suppl 1):10-42. [guideline] PubMed 30847513 · DOI
20. Yukhnovich et al. Chronic tinnitus is quietened by sound therapy using a novel cross-frequency de-correlating stimulus modulation. Hear Res. 2025. [study] PubMed 40505169 · DOI

Primary sources were opened and read for this page; the links go to PubMed, publisher DOIs, guideline texts, regulator or registry records. Evidence through 17 October 2026. Last reviewed 17 October 2026.